-Caveat Lector- OBE and its constructivist cousins such as whole language learning has been pioneered by S & B in order to delibrately dumb you down. The fact that they didn't work can be seen in the article below. The interesting question to ask is why have the 'fabians/rockerfellers' been allowing a return to tetsed methods in the UK. Is the 'F/R' hold weakening? are they having a change of heart? Are they so strong that they no longer need to dumb down? Is a new phase in the NWO beginning? Or have they just realised that they were stupid and ideologically driven. Most parents, particularly working class parents (whom Ive had dealings with anyway) hated these "progressive methods". It was never the people who called for the abolition of traditional education.(just more appropiate education in secondary modern schools) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000121378023306&rtmo=lSHbuFnt&atmo=99999999 &pg=/et/99/9/16/nedu16.html ISSUE 1574 Thursday 16 September 1999 Pupils reap reward of return to the three Rs By John Clare, Education Editor Blunkett congratulates primary heads and teachers on significant boost in test results for 11-year-olds [15 Sep '99] - Department for Education and Employment FORCING primary schools to teach the Three Rs properly has led to a record rise in the standards achieved by 11-year-olds, David Blunkett, the Education Secretary, said yesterday. Tony Blair (left) and David Blunkett at Southfields Junior School in Luton, where they launched the 'Maths 2000' initiative yesterday Announcing the results of this year's national tests, he said they showed that the Government had been right to concentrate on the basics of literacy and numeracy. The introduction a year ago of a compulsory literacy hour, which included a large element of phonics - the method of teaching reading previously decried by the education establishment - had produced a huge increase in the proportion of 11-year-olds reaching Level 4, the expected standard. Last year, it was 71 per cent; this year it was 81 per cent, exceeding the target the Government had set for 2002. In writing, which includes handwriting and spelling, the proportion reaching Level 4 rose by three per cent to 56 per cent, indicating that teachers needed to work harder on pupils' spelling, punctuation and grammar. The combined results for reading and writing showed that 70 per cent of 11-year-olds reached the expected level in English, up from 65 per cent last year and on target for 80 per cent by 2002. Mr Blunkett said the proportion reaching Level 4 in maths shot up from 59 per cent last year to 69 per cent, reflecting the fact that most primary schools had already introduced the daily numeracy hour, which became compulsory only this term. Again, schools had abandoned the methods propounded for a generation by teacher training institutions and returned to "tried and tested methods", including formal, whole-class instruction, a carefully detailed syllabus and an emphasis on mental arithmetic. Mr Blunkett, who has set a target of 75 per cent reaching the expected level in maths by 2002, said: "There is nothing more important in primary schools than that children learn to read, write and do mathematics well." Noting that the proportion of 11-year-olds achieving the expected level in science had risen from 69 per cent to 78 per cent, he added: "The results show that the quality of teaching generated by the literacy and numeracy strategies has brought benefits across the curriculum." Tony Blair, who was visiting Southfields Junior School, Luton, said he regarded the results as a "really significant milestone" in raising standards. He said: "When we started with these targets, people said it could not be done - but it can be." Announcing the results for seven-year-olds, Mr Blunkett ignored the advice he was given earlier this year by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which said the pass mark was too low and a poor predictor of children's performance at 11. The authority said the cut-off point for Level 2, which is divided into three classes, a, b and c, should be raised from 2c to 2b. However, Mr Blunkett quoted the figures for the proportion who achieved at least Level 2c: 82 per cent for reading, 83 per cent for writing, 71 per cent for spelling, and 87 per cent for maths - all slightly up on last year. The figures for the proportion of seven-year-olds achieving Level 2b or better, which will not be published until next month, are expected to be in the sixties. For pupils aged 14, the results showed little change on last year. The proportions reaching at least Level 5 - the expected standard for the age group is half way between Level 5 and Level 6 - were 63 per cent in English, down two per cent; 62 per cent in maths, up three per cent; and 55 per cent in science, down one per cent. Mr Blunkett explained that it was too early for the literacy and numeracy strategies to have had an impact on 14-year-olds - who can, nevertheless, be expected to achieve record results at GCSE in two years. David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, described the results as a "quantum jump" and said they represented tremendous achievements by pupils and teachers, led by their head teachers. ISSUE 1574 Thursday 16 September 1999 Figures show that the lesson has been learned at last By John Clare Pupils reap reward of return to the three Rs TONY BLAIR was right yesterday when he said this year's national test results were a milestone. They marked the precise point at which it became impossible to deny that for 30 years the people who trained, advised and inspected teachers have been hopelessly, catastrophically wrong. They were wrong to force teachers to abandon traditional classroom methods. They were wrong to tell teachers not to stand in front of their pupils and teach. They were wrong to claim that phonics - showing how sounds are written - was an inefficient and outmoded way to teach reading. They were wrong to condemn all rote learning, the foundation of mental arithmetic and much else that children need to know. And they were wrong to drive academic rigour out of primary schools and replace it with play and "discovery learning". Thirty-two years after the disastrous Plowden report turned primary education inside out and ushered in an era of falling standards - especially for working class children - the Government has finally called a halt. By imposing a curriculum on teacher training institutions and withdrawing funding from courses that do not measure up, it has neutralised the malign influence of education professors and lecturers. By taking power and money away from local education authorities, it has broken the stranglehold on schools of Left-wing councillors and officials. And by introducing compulsory and unashamedly old-fashioned strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy, it has enabled a confused and demoralised profession to break out of the web of failure in which it has been trapped for so long. The teachers, parents and journalists who first saw what was going wrong 15 years ago will regard yesterday's figures with mixed feelings. Pleasure at being proved right about the folly of expecting children to learn to read by staring at pictures and print will be tinged with anger about the tens of thousands who left school functionally illiterate. Pleasure at the evidence that children do better when they are taught than when left to their own devices will be tempered with despair at how much has been lost by the 40 per cent who, year after year, learned little. If the triumph that yesterday's results represent were to be marked by a prize giving, first in the winners' line would be the small band of teachers who kept the flame of phonics burning by demonstrating again and again that virtually every child could be taught to read. Next would come a select group of academics headed by Prof Sig Prais who proved that children learned maths best from teachers who stood in front of the blackboard and instructed, challenged and involved the whole class. Last on to the podium would be Chris Woodhead, the Chief Inspector of Schools, who understood what needed to be done and had the skill to persuade Mr Blair to do it. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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